Electric switch



Jan. 20, 1942. F. H. ROBY 2,270,640

ELECTRIC SWITCH Filed March 4, 19159 2 Sheets-Sheet l /g/f fQ/B Jan 2O!F. H. ROBY ELECTRIC SWITCH Filed March 4, 1939 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 lll- I-i1- E.' 4

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/NVENTOR ATTORNEY Patented Jan. 20, 1942 ELECTRIC SWITCH Frank H. Roby,Milwaukee, Wis., assigner to Square D Company, Detroit, Mich., acorporation of Michigan Application March 4, 1939, Serial No. 259,763

(Ci. 20o-97) 6Claims.

This invention relates to an electric switch involving a plurality ofcontacts adapted to be sequentially engaged and disengaged withpredetermined time intervals, and has for one of its objects theprovision of an improved construction for such a switch which shall beof simple and economical construction while accurate in its operation.

Another object of this invention is to provide an improved operatingmeans for an electric switch of this type.

Another object of this invention is to provide in an electric switch ofthe above type an improved and simplified means for effecting adjustmentof the position of the stationary cantacts to determine the periodsbetween the sequential operations aforesaid.

Other objects and features of the invention will be readily apparent tothose skilled in the art from the following specication and appendeddrawings illustrating certain preferred embodiments of the invention inwhich:

Figure 1 is a front elevational view of the electric switch according tothe present invention.

Figure 2 is a vertical elevational view of the electric switch accordingto the present invention.

Figure 3 is an enlarged sectional view taken along line III-III ofFigure l.

Figure 4 is an enlarged vertical sectional view taken along the lineIV-IV of Figure 1.

Figure 5 is an enlarged sectional view taken along the line V-V ofFigure l.

The electric switch according to the present invention comprises asupporting panel I having mounted thereon a plurality oi' relativelymovable contact sets indicated generally at 2 and actuated in responseto the energizatiofi of an electromagnet 3, with the timing of theactuation of the contacts in opposite directions determined by thesettings of pneumatic time delay units 9 and 10. The operating parts ofthe time delay units 9 `and 'I0 are duplicates but disposed to work inopposite directions and only that indicated at 9 is shown in detail.This comprises a supporting plate 5 secured to posts 6 as by studs l,the posts being secured to the mounting panel l by studs 8. Upon theupper portion of the supporting plate 5 is mounted the timing unit 9comprising a central dividing portion I having disposed therein a needlevalve II and a check valve I2. `The dividing portion I0 is of generaldouble cup shape and to its bottom portion a flexible diaphragm I3 issealably amxed thereto by means of a rigid metallic member I4. A nut Iis secured to the diaphragm I3 by being riveted through opposite discwashers I8. A rod I3 is threaded into the nut I5 and is maintained inplace by a locking nut I9. A flexible diaphragm 20 is connected largeindicating wheel 25 pivotally attached to the supporting plate 5 andgenerally centrally thereof. It is to be noted that the timing element 9provides for dash up movement by passage of the interior iiuid throughthe check valve I2 and for delayed downward movement by the controlledpassage of the interior uid through the needle valve II. The diaphragmI3 places the appropriate pressure or vacuum on the iiuid within itschamber to secure movement of the iluid to or from its associatedchamber through the valves and the diaphragm 2l is an idle diaphragmwhich acts as a reservoir for this fluid and serves to seal oiI thevalves from the exterior air. Secured to the pin 23 and intermediatefront bearing piece 26 andthe gear teeth 24 is disposed a liber disc 21.The nber disc 21 is manipulable to rotate the pin 23 and the gear teeth24 to move the indicating wheel 25 meshing therewith. A split springpressed double bushing 28 holds the pin 23 and thereby the valve II inits adjusted position. Upon the lower end of the rod I3 is threaded asplit attaching member 29 in which is secured a rigid insulating member41 having mounted thereon and relatively movable with respect theretospring biased contact elements 3l, 3| and 32. The contact surfaces ofbridging elements 30 and 3| face downwardly and the contact surfacesofthe bridging element 32 face upwardly. The contact elements 3| and 32are oppositely disposed and are directed away from each other towardstops 34 and 35 by means of a common biasing spring 33. The contactelement 30 is biased downwardly with respect to the insulating member 41and against stop 36 by means of a compression spring 31 disposed betweenthe contact element and a washer 3B Whose position is determined by thestop 39. As can be seen in the drawings, the contact elements 30 and 3lare engaged with their respective stationary contacts and move fromtheir stops 38 and 35 respectively against the bias of springs 31 and 33which maintain the contact pressure between the elements and theircooperating stationary contacts. Each of the bridging contact elements30, 3i and 32 cooperates with a pair of spaced stationary contacts,certain of which are mounted for ready adjustment. These pairs ofcontact elements are mounted upon blocks 40, 4I and 42. Each of thesestationary contacts includes a post 43 extending forwardly of thesupporting insulating' block and having mounted a contact surface 44disposed upon a stud 45 threaded into the post 4I and maintained inplace by a lock nut 45. The arrangement thus described not only providesmeans for mounting the stationary contacts, but also provides foradjustment of each stationary contact individually where desired. Thebottom insulating block 4II is rigidly secured to panel I and supportsthe bottom end of guide rods 4l whose upper ends ara rigidly secured tothe panel. Two of these rods are provided, one being obscured by themember 41 as viewed in Figure 1. The contact supporting insulatingblocks 4I and 42 are slidably mounted on the guide rods 4l andcompresison springs 4| are provided between the blocks to bias themapart. An adjustment rod 50 extends loosely through blocks 40 and 42 andis provided at either extremity with adjusting nuts 5I and 52. Thecentral block 4I is tied to the rod 50 by a stud 5I. With thisarrangement it is seen that a means is provided for quick and easyadjustment of the position of the stationary contacts mounted on theblocks 4I and 42 merely by tightening or loosening the adjusting nuts 5Iand 52 to shorten or extend the associated portion of the rod 50. In theadjustments, tightening of the adjusting nut 52 will cause the block 42to move downwardly but will not move the rod 50, and hence will leavethe central block 4I unaffected because of its attachment to the rod 50.The bottom block 40 will likewise be unaffected, being rigidly securedto the panel l. Tightening of adjusting nut 5| will cause both thecentral and top blocks 4I and 42 to move downwardly in response tomovement of the adjusting rod 50, which will carry these two blocks withit in its movement. Opposite rotation of the nuts 5I and 52 will causesimilar movements of the blocks, but in the opposite directions.

An L-shaped bracket 54 is provided near the top of panel l and acompression spring 5l is disposed between the bracket 54 and a stop 54on member 41 to bias the member in a downward direction. Since contactsto be operated by the member 41 at the extreme of its forward movementwill ordinarily not need adjustment since they simply determine thefinal movement of the rod to deenergize its operating circuit, thesecontacts are here supplied in the form of a push button switch 4 whichmay be of conventional form and which is disposed with relation to astriker 58 rigid with the member 41 so that the striker 58 will move thepush button of this switch to disengage these contacts near the extremeupward movement of the member. Since this push button switch may be ofconventional form, its internal mechanism has not been speciiicallyshown and is to be considered as simple additional switching contactsnon-adjustable and operated at the upper extreme of the movement of themember 41. About the lower end of the member 41 is connected a guide andstop element 51 having an elongated pin portion 53 extending therefrom.This pin extends through and is guided by an insulated abutment 55rigidly mounted upon a bracket 60 mounted on the panel. The enlargedportion of the element 51 contacts with the upper surface of theabutment 59 to determine the lower position of the member y Acylindrical actuating member 8| guided by a rigid bracket 52 is disposedbeneath pin 5I and is threaded at its lower end upon a rod I4 and lockedthereon by a locking nut 85. The rod 44 is connected to the operatingdiaphragm of the time delay unit 10 in a manner similar to thatpreviously described for the operating diaphragm of the time delay unit8. Disposed about the rod 84 is a compression spring Il disposed betweenthe locking nut 55 and a lateral arm 1I of a pivotal armature 41. Withthis arm in its lower or deenergized position, the spring 54 ilsubstantially free of compression. The armature is stopped in itsdeenergized position by means of a position limiting bracket Il. Thepole face of the armature is provided with a facing sheet of brass orother non-magnetic material 5l to prevent sealing of the armature in itsenergized position. For actuating the armature, there is provided astationary or ileld magnet section 12 provided with operating coil 1Iwhich, when energized, will effect the upward rotation of the armature51.

'I'he operation of the relay is as follows: Upon energization of thecoil 13, the armature I1 will be rotated upwardly and will compress theoperating spring il. This will apply a spring bias to move the operator5| upwardly and it will move in this direction at a rate dependent uponthe adjustment of the time delay unit 10. When the operator 8l contactspin Il, the member 41 will commence to move upwardly and will operatethe contacts associated therewith in the following sequence: first, thestop Il will engage the bridging contact ll to effect opening of thecircuit therethrough; secondly, the stop 35 will engage bridging contactelement 3| to etfect opening of the circuit therethrough; thirdly,contact element 32 will be moved into engagement with its cooperatingstationary contacts to complete the circuit therethrough; and, fourthly,the striker 58 will engage the operating push button of the switch 4 tointerrupt the circuit therethrough. When thereafter the coil I3 isdeenergiaed either through the actual opening of the circuit through theswitch 4 or in response to some other operating switch, the armature l1will be released and moved downwardly whereupon the member 41 will startits downward movement under the combined action of gravity and biasingspring 55. In this downward movement, the speed of member 41 iscontrolled entirely by the setting of the time delay unit I, it beingunderstood that in the upward movement of the member, the timing unit 9permits the free passage of the controlling fluid through the checkvalve and, in the downward movement of the operator 5I, the time delayunit 1l permits the free passage of the control fluid through its checkvalve. In this downward movement of the member, the direction of thecontacts will be reversed to that previously set forth; firstly, thestriker 58 will release the operating push button of the switch 4 toclose the circuit therethrough; thereafter the bridging contact 32 willbe moved away from these stationary contacts in response to theengagement of the stop 34 therewith, and thereafter contacts 3i and 3lwill, in that respective order, be engaged with their cooperatingstationary contacts.

It is seen that in the operation of the switch there are four timingperiods; first, the period from the energization of the coil 13 untilthe contact Il) is operated; second, the period between the operationsof contacts 30 and 3l; third; the period between the operations ofcontacts 3l and 32; and fourth, the time between the operation ofcontact 32 and the operation of the switch 4. There are, of course,other timing periods which might be considered inasmuch as the time ofclosing of the contacts 32 is made up of the two periods involving theupward and downward movement of the rod and, similarly,I the times ofopening of the contacts 30 and Il are made up o f the two components dueto the raising and lowering of the switch. Considering the four basictime intervals, adjustment of these could be had in various ways, butthe simplest form of adjustment will be described. The ilrst timingperiod, inasmuch as the stationary contacts cooperating with thebridging contact III are relatively permanently adjusted, will bedetermined by the adjustment of the time delay unit 10. The adjustmentof this unit also transmits itself through the other timing periods, butthese are otherwise adjustable whereas the rst timing period isdetermined solely by this adjustment and the permanent adjustment of theposition of the nrst set of stationary contacts. The second timingperiod between the operation oi.' contacts 30 and 3| is determined byadjustment of the screw This adjustment moves both contact blocks ll and42 and, hence, does not vary the third timing period, although it doeschange the fourth timing period. The third timing period is determinedby adjustment of the nut 52 which moves the contact block 42 onlyltovary the time between the operation of contact 3| and contact 32. Thefourth timing periodis determined by the adjustment oi' both nuts il and52, since both of these nuts eifect movement of the contact block 42.The adjustment of the time delay unit 9 will similarly effeci; the-speed of movement of the rod in the opposite direction and determinethe time interval at which the operation of the contacts occurs.

While certain preferred embodiments of the invention have beenspecifically disclosed, it is understood that the invention is notlimited thereto as many variations will be readily apparent to thoseskilled in the art and the invention is to be given its broadestpossible interpretation'within the terms of the following claims.

What is claimed is:

1. An electric switch comprising a movable member, a plurality ofcontacts movable in response to movement of said member, a plurality ofstationary contacts adapted to be engaged and disengaged by theirreciprocable movable contacts in response to movement of said member,

-means for relatively stationarily mounting one of said stationarycontacts. means for adjusting the position of others of said stationarycontacts with respect to said first stationary contact but withoutdisturbing the relation between said others of said stationary contacts,and means for adjusing at least one of said other sets of contactswithout disturbing the remainder of them.

2. An electric switch comprising at least three spaced stationarycontacts, movable contacts cooperating with said stationary contacts,means for successively operating said movable contacts, means forrelatively permanently mounting one of said stationary contacts, meansfor adjusting two of said stationary contacts with respect to said onestationary contact without disturbing the spacing between said twostationary contacts, and means for adjusting one of said two stationarycontacts independently of the other.

3. An electric switch comprising at least three without disturbing theposition of said first and second sets of said stationary contacts.

4. An electric switch comprising a stationary insulating block, a pairof spaced stationary contacts mounted on said block, a pair of movablymounted insulating blocks with pairs of stationary contacts mountedthereon, movable bridging contact members for cooperating with saidpairs of stationary contacts, means for moving said bridging contacts tosuccessively effect cooperation thereof with their respective pairs ofstationary contacts, means for adjusting the pair of movable insulatingblocks as a unit with respect to the stationary block, and means foradjusting one of said movable blocks while maintaining the otherstationary.

5. An electric switch comprising a reciprocable member, a plurality ofelectrically independent sets of contacts adapted to be successivelyoperated by said member in its movement in opposite directions, meansestablishing one set of contacts in a relatively fixed relation, meansadjusting the interval between said stationary set and other sets ofsaid contacts without disturbing the interval between said other sets,`means for adjusting at least one of said other sets alone, anadjustable time delay means at each end of said member, each of saidmeans delaying movement of said member in one direction only, anelectromagnetic operator for said member comprising a ileldmagnet and apivoted armature, spring means interposed between said pivoted armatureand said member and adapted to be stressed to apply a resilient forceupon said member upon energization of said eld magnet, the member movingin one direction through said resilient force under the control of oneof said delay means, the other -delay means controlling the speed ofmovement of said member in its return movement upon deenergization ofsaid eld magnet.

6. An electric switch comprising at least three vertically spaced setsof horizontally spaced stavertically spaced sets of horizontally spacedstationary contacts, a plurality of bridging contacts tionary contacts,a plurality of bridging contacts adapted to cooperate with saidhorizontally spaced stationary contacts, a vertically movable member foractuating said bridging contacts, means mounting the rst set ofstationary contacts in a relatively permanent position, means foradjusting the spacing between said rst and second set of spacedstationary contacts without disturbing the space between the second andthird sets of stationary contacts, and means for adjusting the saidthird set of stationary contacts without disturbing the position of saidfirst and second sets of said stationary contacts, time delay means forcontrolling the rate of movement of said member, electromagneticoperating means including a field magnet and ia movable armature, andspring means operable by said armature to apply a resilient forceeffecting controlled movement of said member. FRANK H. ROBY.

